Southport killer's sentence won't be referred for appeal, Attorney General says

The Southport child killer’s sentence will not be referred to the Court of Appeal, the Attorney General has said.

Axel Rudakubana, 18, was jailed for minimum of 52 years in January, after murdering three girls at a dance class, but the sentence sparked criticism from a family involved in the attack and MPs, alongside calls for law changes.

Rudakubana received one of the highest minimum custody terms on record for the attack, at a Taylor Swift-themed class in The Hart Space in the Merseyside town in July last year, when he was 17. He killed Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and attempted to murder eight other children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, class instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes.

On Friday Attorney General Lord Hermer KC said he would not be referring the sentence to the Court of Appeal under the unduly lenient sentence scheme. In a statement, Lord Hermer said: “The senseless and barbaric murder of three young girls in Southport last summer shocked our nation.

“No words come anywhere close to expressing the brutality and horror in this case. It was understandable that we received multiple requests to review the sentence under the unduly lenient sentence scheme, which is designed to identify and remedy gross errors made by judges.

“After careful consideration of independent legal advice and consultation with leading criminal barristers and the Crown Prosecution Service, I have concluded that this case cannot properly be referred to the Court of Appeal. No-one would want the families to be put through an unnecessary further court process where there is no realistic legal basis for an increased sentence.

“The 52-year sentence imposed by the judge